For the second straight time, playing from MetLife Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys defense held the home team New York Giants without a touchdown in their own stadium. It might not have been nearly as impressive as the season-opening 40-0 victory on a Sunday night a year ago, an early declaration from Dallas that they could be a dangerous team again – and the kind of declaration that this current Cowboys team still four weeks of searching – but there were still enough things the Cowboys could do right in the game’s biggest moments to pull out a 20-15 win.

Mike Zimmer’s defense found a way with practice squad call-ups, like Amani Oruwariye seeing the field for the first time, newly signed Carlos Watkins already being thrown into the defensive tackle rotation, and with the departures of Trevon Diggs, DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons. the field with injuries at different times. For a defense that was rightly criticized for barely giving this team a chance in the first two home games of the season, it’s something this team can potentially build on as a catalyst for a road win during a 10-day break.

The defense was at its best as the Cowboys offense was able to find just enough traction to take their first lead in a game since Week 1. The Cowboys forced Daniel Jones and the Giants to consistently take the long route down the field, with all but one of New York’s scoring drives requiring ten plays or more. The Giants got as close as the Cowboys’ three-yard line, and inside their 25 three other times, but never got the ball into the end zone.

The Cowboys offense never panicked as the Giants ultimately won the time of possession by more than ten minutes, not forcing the ball downfield with low-percentage throws and instead finding more creative ways to Dak Prescott to facilitate the ball to seven different receivers with an 81.5. % completion rate.

Knowing that in a short week this game would likely come down to which team stars could impact the game the most, CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson led the way with a combined 14 catches on 15 targets, accounting for 63% of Prescott’s completions and 147 of the are 221 meters. Lamb also produced the team’s longest run of the night with a long run of ten yards, but Rico Dowdle was the best option out of the backfield with 11 carries for 46 yards. Dowdle also put the Cowboys ahead 7-3 with a receiving touchdown in the first quarter, taking a 15-yard screen pass to Paydirt.

Regardless of how the Cowboys ended up in the win column in New Jersey on Thursday, it was impossible for this team to answer all the questions circling Mike McCarthy’s squad after two straight lopsided losses. The only important thing is that they did indeed win and can now continue to answer these questions with a steady 2-2 record, as opposed to a potentially disastrous 1-3, where the Giants now enter the year with two division losses already. The Commanders and Eagles will both be in action on the road this Sunday.

Let’s look at a few other notes on how the Cowboys came out on top in their fifth straight NFC East win and seventh straight win against the Giants.

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• On both teams’ first offensive possession, they were faced with an immediate third down attempt after running the ball on second down. The Cowboys took a rollout play on Prescott that didn’t give him many options once Lamb was removed, and were quickly forced to punt. The Giants got their top receiver Malik Nabers in a favorable matchup against Andrew Booth, filling in at CB for Dallas without rookie Caelen Carson, and it led to their longest passing play of the night, with Nabers winning with a double move for 39 yards. A Giants penalty would help the Cowboys get them back on third down, where Zimmer could ramp up the pressure on safety Donovan Wilson, forcing Jones to throw for the sticks and the Giants having to settle for a field goal .

Still early enough in the game not to know that this would be the story of the entire night, it looked like the Giants had some early momentum and could have used it to set up their defense in a similar situation to the win of last week at the Browns, where the pass rush was completed. The Cowboys responded quickly by establishing their top receivers on the ensuing drive, with Brandin Cooks making his first catch to move the chains on a third-and-short three plays before Dowdle’s touchdown.

The Cowboys may not have placed the same emphasis as the Giants on ensuring their receivers lined up against the cornerbacks they wanted, but they have gotten creative in other ways to change the picture for the Giants defense and allow Prescott to do what he is good at. out of the bag. A move out of the backfield with all their backs, including fullback Hunter Luepke, who caught two passes and carried twice for eight yards with a fourth down conversion, as well as key blitz pickups from players like Deuce Vaughn on Lamb’s 55-yard touchdown, ensured sure it will be harder for the Giants to make the impact they expected. Even as rookie Tyler Guyton struggled against Kayvon Thibodeaux, who had NY’s only sack, the Cowboys stayed on target as an offense, giving up just four third downs longer than seven yards out of ten total.

Of course, the goal of the Cowboys offense should be to find more ways to push the ball downfield to avoid needing all three downs to advance, with Lamb making his splash as promised on Thursday, but in a match they had to make sure in every possible way it was good enough in all three phases.

Staying on third down was key for the Cowboys on their final scoring drive, forcing the Giants to find a way to score a touchdown to win after Dallas backed up on a second and 20 runs and a third and 12 completion for just three yards to Luepke on the previous drive.

Jake Ferguson had a pair of nine-yard receptions on first and ten plays to get the drive off to a promising start, but when he was ultimately faced with a third down after consecutive runs to Dowdle and Lamb for just three net yards, Prescott couldn’t connect. with Lamb on the third down attempt and the Cowboys continued to leave the door open by settling for another field goal.

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Mike McCarthy mentioned a dynamic offense in year two as the play-caller would be the biggest game-day advantage the HC coaching could bring to his job in 2024, but instead it was Zimmer’s defense that looked like it didn’t realize it most had adjusted from the losses of weeks 2 and 3. and by lining up again, they gave the defense a chance with every move.

The offense is having a much harder time doing this with any regularity at this point, as the pressure will only continue to mount on a unit that lacks serious game-breaking ability at several positions.

• Just as the Giants started the game by selecting Andrew Booth, at this point a better support player on the boundary than cover cornerback in Zimmer’s defense, they started the second half by throwing against Booth’s replacement Amani Oruwariye. The called-up practice squad also struggled to locate the ball and position themselves to not allow big plays, but the Cowboys defense still stayed in the red zone thanks to a third-and-open field tackle by DeMarvion Overshown. Overshown looked at ease, lined up tightly along the line of scrimmage to conceal pressure and allow Jones to get to his short reads, but also to rotate in space and chase the ball towards the boundary. No moment seemed too big for a player getting his first regular-season experience after suffering a preseason ACL tear as a rookie. The second-year linebacker was everywhere for Dallas in this game and also made the tackle on the kickoff that started this drive that took up almost half of the third quarter for the Giants.

Shortening the game itself but still trailing, only to see Brandon Aubrey push the Cowboys lead back to five with a 60-yard automatic field goal was a real turning point for the Giants who had any hope of coming out on top come.

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The Giants punted, kicked their final field goal, turned the ball over on downs and threw the game-ending interception to Oruwariye on their remaining possessions, needing a touchdown to take the lead. Zimmer’s defense was able to sit back and make throws with help over the top, and also came up with splash plays like Marshawn Kneeland’s tackle for loss on Jones (another young player who also plays well on special teams) and Jourdan Lewis’ in the middle of the squad. field tackle in space against Robinson.

With so many changing faces on defense, the Cowboys weren’t fundamentally sound for all four quarters, with missed tackles and penalties the obvious things to address, but they looked more coherent in their lineup than at any time in recent memory. two weeks. . They put their most experienced players such as Lewis, Malik Hooker and Micah Parsons in position to play.

• After a strong fourth-quarter performance against the Ravens, Mazi Smith continues to play more and more each week and shows real promise in a scheme that sees him slot in as the Cowboys’ top option at nose tackle. Smith wins with leverage and does a better job of staying square to the line of scrimmage to reduce how many blockers can push him. With holding the point of attack being one of his roles as one technique, Smith has also been dropping blocks to make solo tackles in recent weeks, in the most encouraging sign that Dallas will have a chance to fill a better running defense while he continues to improve. .

One of the main reasons why this rivalry has been so one-sided in recent games is not only Prescott’s strong performance against the Giants, but also the Cowboys passing rush and definitely having their way with the Giants up front. For the first time in a long time, this didn’t happen, as the likes of Parsons and Odighizuwa struggled to get out of the blocks in time to impact Jones, but sufficient holding against the run was still necessary for this defensive front. The Giants couldn’t rely on their run game to create favorable passing situations for Jones because even when the Cowboys’ front didn’t make the stop, they spilled runs to the second level where Overshown or leading tackler Eric Kendricks were there to finish . plays.